The Minnesota Wild defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 at Rogers Arena on Saturday after rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period, led by a goal from Mats Zuccarello 2:47 into overtime.
In the third period, Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno tied the game, and in overtime, Zuccarello completed an in-zone breakaway pass from Kirill Kaprizov with a deke to the forehand and around Kevin Lankinen’s outstretched right pad.
“Being down 2-0 after two periods is difficult, and I’m really proud of the boys,” Kaprizov remarked. Throughout the third period, I believe we play in the offensive zone, go on goal, take a few shots, and attempt to create some opportunities. Yes, we have a massive two-point advantage.
The Wild (44-30-7) were coming off a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Friday, and Filip Gustavsson recorded 12 saves. They are ahead of the Calgary Flames by five points and the St. Louis Blues by one point for the Western Conference’s first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Calgary has three games left, while Minnesota and St. Louis each have one.
Faber, who also had an assist, remarked, “That was a huge, huge two points.” “We are in charge of our own fate. The final and most significant one of the year is right around the corner.
The Canucks (37-29-14), who had won two straight games, had 30 stops from Lankinen and goals from Marcus Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. The 14 losses in overtime and shootouts combined are the most Vancouver has ever suffered in a season.
“Clearly, it’s a team that is fighting for their lives, and they demonstrated heart and character by doing what they had to do to return to the game,” DeBrusk said. “We weren’t very productive in the second half. The narrative of our year was that they managed to lock it down quite well. We simply can’t find that additional one when it gets to overtime.
At 3:11 of the first period, Pettersson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead. After receiving a cross-ice pass from Linus Karlsson, he skated inside the left face-off circle and hit Gustavsson’s blocker with a wrist shot.
Pettersson was more worried about getting outshot 13–4 in the third period, even though it was his first goal in 29 games with the Canucks since he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade on January 31.
Pettersson, who turned the puck over on the second Wild goal, remarked, “We were defending a lot in that game.” We kind of gave it away too much and let them get out of this situation, even though there were still some plays to be done. … The team is desperate. I believe that by giving them too much of the puck, we gave them this point, which they needed.
At 13:08 of the second period, DeBrusk deflected a Nils Hoglander shot from the edge of the crease under Gustavsson’s blocker to increase the advantage to 2-0 on a penalty play.
It tied DeBrusk’s NHL career high from 2018–19 and 2022–23 with the Boston Bruins, and it was his 27th goal of the season.
By catching a loose puck in the slot and putting it past a screened Lankinen, Faber made it 2-1 with a goal 22 seconds into the third period.
It was silent when we entered. With regard to the Wild room, Foligno stated, “It was positive, but everyone was laser focused on just trying to break down that wall.” I think it shifted a little because we got one past Lankinen early, and he performed really well. Even if it happens later, it’s still a bit more difficult.
Foligno tied the score at 13:14 by driving to the goal and deflecting a Ryan Hartman feed from the right boards past Lankinen’s blocker at the top of the crease after Gustavsson denied Aatu Raty on a breakaway at 12:43.
According to Kaprizov, “There are times when you know you need to score heavy goals, going to net, dirty goals like Marcus and [Faber] too.”
With Kaprizov keeping the puck and circling the zone for a long time before finding Zuccarello alone in tight, the overtime winner was all about skill.
Faber remarked of Zuccarello, “He just seems to be there in the big moments, and big-time players make big plays.”
NOTES: Declan Chisholm missed the majority of the second period in Vancouver due to a heavy hit into the end boards from Pettersson, but he returned in the third. Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon did not play after taking a puck in the throat in Calgary on Friday. Defenseman Cameron Crotty, who replaced Spurgeon in his first NHL game of the season, was minus-1 in 5:08 of ice time. … The Canucks defenseman Derek Forbort did not return following a brawl with Yakov Trenin at 4:12 in the third period. After the game, no update was available. Ty Mueller of the Canucks made his NHL debut. In 10:56 of ice time, he had two shots. For the third consecutive season, Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes recorded one assist to achieve 75 points (16 goals, 59 assists), making him the sixth defenseman in NHL history to do so and the first since Ray Bourque, who accomplished it five times in a row from 1989–90 to 1993–94.
